It's been a while since I touched Delphi, but I've always loved it for rapid prototype development... hell, I made TISFAT in it without even knowing how to code (and boy does it show!).

Since I recently decided to make a Drumpster configuration file editor, I thought I'd dust off my old Delphi installation, but sadly, I couldn't find my dear old Delphi6Personal.exe download anymore (and Em..Embar... THEM aren't being nice anymore).Seeing as this also had to be pretty OS portable, I thought this was a perfect time to look at FreePascal and Lazarus again.

The last time I looked, FreePascal was awesome and were talking about exciting ARM versions (iPhone/GameBoy coding for morons, woohoo!).Lazarus however... well... the last time I used it, it was not a very pleasant experience at all.The debugger was never really sure that the app had started, or if it had finished, or paused, or if it could even feel its legs.The IDE itself would panic all the time, proudly telling me to save stuff before it went completely tits up.

Lazarus has come a long way, but the past few years have seen it rapidly become something incredibly useful and handy.Sure, it still generates executables that consume the sun with their size (helloooo strip.exe!), but it's delightful to code in now.The intellisense is great, the debugger now talks to the IDE, I can right-click-and-go-to-definition, I can minimize the main window and it will take its children to the flaming pits of hell with it...